What's over there?
HANOI, VIETNAM – Melanie and I finally did it… After living in Hanoi for five months we finally signed up for a Vietnamese language course – 10 lessons over five weeks (15 hours of class time).
Continue reading “Learn to speak Vietnamese – Mot, Hai, Ba!”
HANOI, VIETNAM – Sidewalks in Hanoi serve many different purposes… merchandise display space for shop stalls, seating for sidewalk restaurants, parking lot for motorcycles and bicycles (and sometimes cars), work room, kitchen, grazing space for urban livestock, and occasionally as a place for pedestrians to walk.
Continue reading “Sidewalks are for walking, right? Not in Hanoi…”
HANOI, VIETNAM – Vietnam’s Halong Bay is world renowned for its picturesque limestone karsts jutting skyward from the clear blue sea. Thousands of these impossible islands dot the waters off Vietnam’s northern coast.
Adjoining Halong Bay is Lan Ha Bay, less traveled by tour boats and every bit as beautiful. But the bays are not just home to lovely scenery. Thousands of people make their homes and livelihoods on the waters there. Continue reading “The Life Aquatic – Vietnam Style (Watch the video)”
HANOI, VIETNAM – During a recent boat tour around Lan Ha Bay we met a group of women visiting from Spain. They were traveling together around Southeast Asia and had recently visited Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
In talking with them about their adventures, I was reminded of our own trip to Angkor several years back and an amusing experience that happened one evening at our hotel. Salud!
Continue reading “Cambodia – Make mine champagne”
HANOI, VIETNAM – Back in the United States I often found coins on the ground… pennies mostly, sometimes a nickel, occasionally a dime or even a quarter. And one time I found a $20 bill. Whoo-Hoo!
Being the frugal person that I am, I’ve always picked up the coins (as long as I could do it safely, that is) – even the pennies that were so banged-up you could barely tell what they were (OK, I admit it; I’m a cheapskate).
Continue reading “Even in Hanoi I find money on the street…”